1900 - Liu Liandeng & Mother

June 1900

Qingyuan, Hebei

Liu Liandeng, a native of Wenzhuang village in Qingyuan County, was a boy just 16-years-old at the time of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. The Boxers arrived in Liu’s village sooner than most people had expected. They rounded up all the Christians, binding their hands behind their backs with cords. The reputation of the Boxers had preceded them, and all the captives, including Liu Liandeng, knew there was no point trying to argue their case before their bloodthirsty captors. Instead, Liu showed no fear at all. He lifted his face toward heaven and bravely sang:

My home is in heaven, my home is not here,

Then why should I murmur when trials appear?

Be hushed, my sad spirit; the worst that can come

But shortens my journey and hastens me home!

Upon hearing these words, the Boxers broke into mocking laughter. They shouted at Liu, “We will soon see if that is true or not. We will make your home here for ever, down in the grave!”[1] Almost the same instant they finished saying this, sharp swords hacked at Liu Liandeng’s neck, severing his head from his body, and sending the spirit of this courageous teenager to the side of Jesus.

Liu’s mother had left the village some days prior to the arrival of the Boxers. She went to the home of some relatives, who were not Christians. When news of her beloved son’s martyrdom reached her, she was overcome with grief and wept without ceasing. Her relatives were alarmed at the constant sound of crying, fearful they would face punishment from the Boxers for harbouring a follower of the ‘Jesus religion’. They drove her away from their home. For days she wandered around the countryside, hiding in deserted places and in the high maize fields. Finally she was “captured by the Boxers and speedily released from her life of weariness and grief to join her boy in the land where there is no more sorrow or crying.”[2]